Comments on: Million Dollar Movie

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:19:49 +0000

[9] And Herrmann won the Oscar for the *other* movie he scored that year, DePalma’s “Obsession.”

By: The Hawk

The Hawk — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:21:18 +0000

Why are my comments not showing up here? And when i cut and paste and repost it says it’s a duplicate comment

By: SteveF

SteveF — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:58:56 +0000

I suspect this comment will be wildly unpopular! I almost feel as though I need to apologize for seeing things the way I do. But I ams what I ams and thats all that I ams.

Taxi Driver is a good example of why it’s so difficult to evaluate great movies years after they get made.

If you had an 18 year old kid watch this movie, he simply couldn’t see it for the classic it was at the time it was released. It’s full of themes and storytelling techniques he’s seen hundreds of times in hundreds of movies.

Maybe there’s just something wrong with me, but especially when it comes to the visual media (television/movies) I find that more often than not I wonder what the big deal is with these purportedly classic films. Intellectually I can understand how, within the context they were made, they were groundbreaking. I just can’t see the movie through any eyes but my own. And more often than not what distinguishes these great old films from the mundane films of their era have already been appopriated by other more modern films I’ve seen.

For me, Taxi Driver is the epitome of that particular problem. I wish I could see the film through the eyes of someone born in 1940. I just can’t.

There are exceptions for me. The acting in most films of the 40s, 50s, 60s is an atrocity. So when I see a performance like Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, that’s a kind of greatness I can recognize — though perhaps it’s because that even in contemporary film (especially in contemporary film?) there’s an overacting epidemic.

Actors need to learn to hide some things from the camera.

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:32:47 +0000

[9] Hermann, of course…

By: Chyll Will

Chyll Will — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:32:23 +0000

One of the films I study for substance. The last film Bernard Hermann scored before dying the very night after he finished recording the soundtrack. Herman, Bernstein and Morricone in no particular order…

By: Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO

Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:08:03 +0000

Perhaps in the minority here but this is not my favorite Scorsesee & De Niro film. I think “King of Comedy” is much deeper, very prescient in 1983 in it’s depiction of celebrity worship. And maybe the most uncomfortable film “comedy” ever made. De Niro as Rupert Pupkin is an amazing performance.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:53:59 +0000

Travis could have been a recruit for the Parallax Corporation in The Parallax View, for sure.

By: weeping for brunnhilde

weeping for brunnhilde — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:40:13 +0000

Yes, it’s a perfect film. In every way.
Similar in its depiction of loneliness and profound isolation is “The Conformist.” Two very similar anti-heroes.

By: The Hawk

The Hawk — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 19:39:29 +0000

I wrote a comment and it disappeared.

By: Jon DeRosa

Jon DeRosa — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:27:22 +0000

I don’t recall a single scene that gives off a resolved, comforted feeling. I was off balance the whole time.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:47:40 +0000

Great quote about the Vietnam vet angle. I think that too often that aspect of Travis gets overlooked, when it seems to me its a major factor in the character’s behavior and reactions.

Taxi Driver has a lot to say about the effect of basic loneliness, too.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:18:15 +0000

It’s an all time classic.

By: Matt Blankman

Matt Blankman — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:09:53 +0000

Taxi Driver was and is a major touchstone for me. It was one of the films that really opened my eyes to what personal film making was all about.